


Queering Captain America

by LittlePhrenic



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Essay, Eugenics, Illnesses, Meta, Other, Queer Themes, disability identity, disability studies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-02-03 07:26:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12743754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittlePhrenic/pseuds/LittlePhrenic
Summary: "But imagine how subversive Captain America could be when certain parts of the story are altered or emphasized and if the Captain America mythology is taken out of the hands of Marvel’s franchise and manipulated by people who will never see themselves in mainstream media. Through fanfiction, some are able to reclaim Steve Rogers/Captain America and all of the associated meanings behind the character called “Captain America” by reimagining who he was, what identities were important to him, and what his motivations were."This is literally just an essay about queering Captain America. I mainly analyzed Roll On, Known Associates, and Jacob (I have loved) by  jaxington, thingswithwings and Lasgalendil respectively.





	1. Chapter 1

Marvel’s Cinematic universe’s Captain America is easily queered because of tensions created in the films. On one hand, the man out of time narrative questions the natural order of reality and challenges things as inherent as time, there is rampant queer bating within the story, and pre-serum Steve Rogers would have had to exist precariously in society when it was still cool to be openly into eugenics, and post-serum Steve Rogers basically exists as a weapon with limited agency. On the other hand, Steve Rogers’s transformation into Captain America fits very well into preexisting dominant cultural beliefs about disability and the bio-medical model of treatment as the only acceptable solution. He literally goes from being sickly, disabled, and useless to having his body cured, making him hyper-masculine, fit, and super-abled. Captain America cannot be separated from nationalism and the imperialist actions of the United States. He is given superhuman powers through patriotism and the desire to “do the right thing for his country,” so he is a nationalist icon on a local and global level. The MCU Captain America cannot be separated from heteronormative representations of sexuality, gender, masculinity, and Cold War era American patriotism. It is no accident that in the MCU Captain America is played by a straight, tall, blond hair, blue-eyed thin white male because that is what the ideal, productive American is supposed to look like.

But imagine how subversive Captain America could be when certain parts of the story are altered or emphasized and if the Captain America mythology is taken out of the hands of Marvel’s franchise and manipulated by people who will never see themselves in mainstream media. Through fanfiction, some are able to reclaim Steve Rogers/Captain America and all of the associated meanings behind the character called “Captain America” by reimagining who he was, what identities were important to him, and what his motivations were. I am going to analyze three fics in particular, _Roll On, Known Associates, and Jacob (I have loved)_ that queer the mythology of Captain America. First, they do so by adding characters and expanding existed or implied ones that are able to explore different issues and ways to critique more problematic parts of Captain America. In _Roll On_ , the two most significant additions are Rachel Rosenbaum, an invented lesbian who works at a queer bar and Rebecca Barnes, an implied sister of James “Bucky” Barnes who is expanded a lot. _Roll On_ is told in multiple time frames and perspectives some by modern-day Steve and Bucky, modern Steve remembering the past and Rachel and Becca’s memories and lives. Rachel and Becca are both extremely close to Steve and Bucky and are able to become so close because they are all presented as belonging to minority communities and are able to relate to each other.

In _Known Associates_ , the purpose of the fic is to expand the number of people who were known to have known Steve Rogers from the file of “known associates” he receives upon waking up to include the associates that were deliberately erased. This pre-serum Steve is extremely queer and he does not really try to hide it from anyone, so it confuses him when he wakes up that his legacy has been preserved as a monogamous, heterosexual, cisgendered man because all anyone would have had to do was look into the people he used to associate with. Through these characters, thingswithwings is able to show character development over time as Steve has to continually re-evaluate his beliefs as he is questioned. They are also able to critique more problematic parts of Captain America. Pre-war Steve views himself as weak and useless and so the sacrifice is a path to worthiness. But post-serum Steve realizes that he has been weaponized and his perspective on the matter changes. “Don't vote for the war machine, she'd told him once, and then he went and became one.” Then in the future, he meets and later dates a character who’s call sign is literally “War Machine.”

In _Jacob (I Have Loved)_ the fic alters it’s focus in time and fits very well into the concept of queer time. The story takes place during multiple time frames at once that are built around passages from a fictional novel and contextualized by excerpts from fictional scholarly texts. The main narrative body of it is from the perspective of James Montgomery Falsworth before Captain America when they are in a prisoner of war camp. To give context to the amount of expansion that happened to Falsworths character, I was unable to find out how much screen time he had but Jim Morita had 1:30 minutes and Dum Dum Dugan had 1:45 minutes. He acts as a foil for Barnes and his perspective is radically different than the way the story is told from the movies. Falsworth is a deeply flawed narrator who is racist, classist, homophobic, and ethnocentric, he frequently uses slurs to describe the other guys but starts feeling guilty about it. The fic follows Monty’s realizations of his own racism and flaws. The other men force him to confront his racism. Tensions arise between English versus the Irish, White versus Black, White versus Japanese. Falsworth starts off outranking and outclassing them and has trouble accepting his place among them. He is forced to challenge a lot of those parts of himself, and a lot of issues get highlighted because he is such an ass.

Second, they all emphasize legacy and erasure. In them, Steve Rogers and associates have complex identities that are simplified or erased by the propaganda machine, the man out of time aspect of Rogers character lends itself to critiquing the resulting legacies because very few people get to see what the world has made of their image and try to correct it. MCU’s Captain America also addresses some problems surrounding legacy although most seem centered around awkwardness or extreme hero worshiping. Rogers seems modest because he feels uncomfortable, but he does not really question very much of what Captain America, and by extension he, has been used for. Issues around legacy are an integral plot point to all of the fics though, and all of them make a point to investigate all of the people involved in shaping the legacy and all are critical of the way historians/archivists in particular are responsible for erasing or shaping the images. The climax _Known Associates_ of is when Rogers coming out publicly when he realizes that everything that showed his queerness was intentionally erased by historical institutions. The fic completely ignores the Civil War plotline and instead focuses on the implications of a world where superheroes can be created. Do these people truly have a choice? How do governments and other actors manipulate and coerce people into becoming superheroes to disrupt or maintain systems of power? It concludes with Rogers making copies of every source of evidence he has found that has been hidden and going to library to make the information accessible, even though libraries had played a large roll in hiding any deviancy in his narrative. In _Roll On_ the fic directly talks about the amount of propaganda that would have been created around someone like Captain America. In _Jacob (I Have Loved)_ the fictional scholarly excerpts are all meta-analysis on the way legacies are altered.

Third, they all make queer and gay themes a central part of the story, specifically subversive queer and gay shit that includes Steve Rogers but is not limited to him and whomever he is being paired with. Each fic is full of queer people. It feels like a realistic amount of queer people. _Known Associates_ and _Roll On_ both even have f/f pairings and trans people and multiracial pairings which is very refreshing as a large amount of fanfiction seems to prioritize paring two cis gay white dudes above everything else. _Jacob (I have Loved)_ manages to be both unflinchingly queer while also having a very realistic conversation about homophobia and how queer people need to hide sometimes to protect themselves. In the fics, this is an intentional response to the amount queerbaiting that Marvel does by creating things that are contextually very queer and then denying it.

Further expanding on the third point, they all highlight the irony behind Marvel’s comfort in violence and discomfort in acts of love and create complicated histories of Captain America’s image being used as a weapon to justify and legitimize violence and obedience and heteronormativity. Each fic has a part about daring to love and daring to be intimate. In _Known Associates_ Steve finds the AIDS memorial bench in DC just before finding out about the helocarriers so the two are contrasted with each other. The phrase “we embraced” is repeated over and over and becomes a motivator for him to re-evaluate why he fears being open with others more than being a weapon. Marvel is willing to create scenes where thousands are killed as collateral damage but is completely unwilling to have two queer characters who love each other and express intimacy.

Fourth, they acknowledge the intersections of nationalism, religious identity and have characters with multiple identities that often diverge from the flatter canon character. They contextualize the conversations about nationalism and religion within the historical context and provide enough sources that they might have done more research than the actual writers. Steve Rogers was socialized in a time when the US transitioned from a liberal economic and political system to a welfare state system, why does he wake up and feel comfortable in a neoliberal system? In all of the fics the word “union” shows up and I don’t think it is in any of the movies. All of the fics make Bucky Barnes somewhat Jewish, and two of them were written by people who are also somewhat Jewish.

Fifth, they investigate consent and choice, questioning whether or not being turned into Captain America was something that could truly be done freely. All three talk about Eugenics and love and provide other reasons for why Steve Rogers would have been willing to be experimented on than just pure patriotism and a desire to help and the two partially set in the present explore the consequences of the technology.

So why does reworking Captain America’s narrative work fit so well into efforts to queer perceptions of what it means to be queer and what it means to be disabled? In _Feminist Queer Crip_ Alison Kafer says that the “medical model of disability frames atypical bodies and minds as deviant, pathological and defective,” so when using the model of understanding the ultimate goal is to normalize. (Kafer, pg 5)But disability is also cast as being an innate characteristic in particular bodies and minds and the definition of disability is assumed to be unchanging and self-evident. a problematic characteristic inherent in particular bodies and minds. The solution to disability then, is to erase it by correcting it, normalizing it, or eliminating it. Maybe this is why there have been a lot of successful queerings of Captain America, even though Rogers entire body is “fixed” and transformed into being super-abled, he still continues to be Steve Rogers and if disability is an inherent problem than he and everything about him, including his personality, would need to completely change. This creates tension because he continues to be inherently “deviant, pathological, and defective” and therefor at odds with the super human he is supposed to be. 

Marvel’s portrayal of Captain America sees illness as a problem. Steve Rogers can’t be heroic until he has been treated by medicine and physically altered so his exterior matches his interior. Marvel does not question the problematic assumptions this makes about who can can be heroic and what bodies are capable of changing things. Disabled Steve Rogers is completely erased. When looked at in context, Marvel’s character of Captain America is surrounded by similar portrayals of disabled people and heroes. There is an extreme lack of representation across most forms of media but especially in film. Disabled and queer characters are extremely infrequent and normally they are played by cisgender, straight, and able-bodied actors. Fanfiction provides a way for some to fix those issues with representation by creating characters with complex identities. Through fanfic it is possible to reclaim Steve Rogers/Captain America and all of the associated meanings behind a character called “Captain America” and instead use the character to produce new realities.


	2. Texts used and their official summaries.

**Captain America: The First Avenger  
** It is 1941 and the world is in the throes of war. Steve Rogers wants to do his part and join America's armed forces, but the military rejects him because of his small stature. Finally, Steve gets his chance when he is accepted into an experimental program that turns him into a supersoldier called Captain America. Joining forces with Bucky Barnes and Peggy Carter, Captain America leads the fight against the Nazi-backed HYDRA organization.

**_Captain America: The Winter Soldier  
_ ** After the cataclysmic events in New York with his fellow Avengers, Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, lives in the nation's capital as he tries to adjust to modern times. An attack on a S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague throws Rogers into a web of intrigue that places the whole world at risk. Joining forces with the Black Widow and a new ally, the Falcon, Rogers struggles to expose an ever-widening conspiracy, but he and his team soon come up against an unexpected enemy.

**_Captain America: Civil War*  
_ ** Political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability when the actions of the Avengers lead to collateral damage. The new status quo deeply divides members of the team. Captain America believes superheroes should remain free to defend humanity without government interference. Iron Man sharply disagrees and supports oversight. As the debate escalates into an all-out feud, Black Widow and Hawkeye must pick a side.

**“Known Associates” by thingswithwings:**   
Steve Rogers isn't a self-made man. Or, how a tough little Brooklyn fairy got turned into Captain America, and then turned back.

**“Roll On” by jaxington:  
** In 1938, there's a bar in Brooklyn called Sully’s where people are safe to be themselves. Behind the bar, a girl pours drinks. She's always got a big smile for Steve and she says queer like it's a good thing. On a regular basis, she takes his shoulders in her hands and tries to shake sense into him, saying, "When will you do something about that best friend of yours?”  
In 2012, Bucky’s gone, but Steve’s not, and the girl’s hands are too old to shake him. She  does her best to make him see sense anyway.  Steve had people who loved him before the war, and it turns out a few of them are still  around when he finally comes home.

**“Jacob (I Have Loved)” by Lasgalendil:  
** In 1945, Captain America was Killed in Action. ...in 1960, James Montgomery Falsworth wrote a book.  
"How odd it was, the Soldier thought, that Man should have such notions. That there must only be Man or Woman, Lover or Beloved, that one must be active, aggressor, that the other be passive, servile. In Love, as in all things, one gave equally of each other to become one Heart, one Flesh, one Soul. The Captain and the Boy became One, and it was Good, and they were Glad.  
Perhaps, the Poet said, perhaps Man is wrong. Perhaps there was never truly Love until this. The Strongman said nothing. Perhaps he disagreed. But the Boy and the Captain continued to kiss, and they were naked, and unashamed."  
—Falsworth, J. Montgomery: Jacob (I Have Loved) . London: Penguin, 1960. Print.

Alison Kafar. Feminist Queer Crip, Indiana University Press: 2013, Bloomington, In.

 

*The fanfictions referenced either flat out ignore or drastically alter Civil War, it can pretty much be ignored. 


End file.
